Magnificently Overqualified Mothers Respond to Senator McCain’s Comment on Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with Resume Delivery

NEWS RELEASE
June 17, 2008
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright, 202/371-1999

Magnificently Overqualified Mothers Respond to Senator McCain’s Comment on Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with Resume Delivery

DC-Area Moms and Families Deliver Thousands of Women’s Resumes
to Senator’s Office

Ten DC-area moms sporting “Magnificently Overqualified Mother” banners, some of them accompanied by their kids, were up on Capitol Hill today to send a message to Senator John McCain about his opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. That message came in the form of some 9,000 resumes from mothers across the country underscoring women’s skills, training and education, and it was crystal clear: “women are well-trained, educated and qualified and should be paid the same as men for doing the same work.”

In late April, the U.S. Senate voted on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, legislation that would loosen the restrictions on the length of time in which workers could file pay discrimination claims against their employers. On the campaign trail at the time, Senator John McCain refused to return to Washington, DC to vote on the measure (unlike two other U.S. Senators who were also campaigning for President), commenting instead that he opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and that what women really needed was “more training and education.” Ultimately, a filibuster in the Senate prevented the bill from coming to a vote. The bill did pass in the U.S. House of Representatives.

To educate Senator McCain about the large number of extremely qualified and capable women who deserve not only pay equity, but the ability to file claims if their employers discriminate against them in pay or promotions, MomsRising.org encouraged its members to sign onto a petition and send in their resumes. More than 20,000 women signed the petition and 9,000 sent in resumes. MomsRising.org is a grassroots online and on-the-ground organization that supports family-friendly policies.

“It’s a shame that Senator McCain doesn’t understand that pay discrimination is not about qualifications or education,” said MomsRising.org Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “But our members are happy to let him know that. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would have repaired the damage done by the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, which severely limited the ability of victims of pay discrimination to sue and recover damages.”

In April, MomsRising.org members in Arizona unsuccessfully attempted to schedule a meeting with Senator McCain or his staff to discuss the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

MomsRising.org members’ resumes include training and degrees in law, business, fine arts, engineering and every other imaginable field. Members are employed as concert violinists, neuropsychologists, attorneys and everything in between.

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MomsRising.org is an online grassroots organization that is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, excellent childcare and healthcare for all children, and to stop the wage and hiring biases that penalize so many mothers today. MomsRising.org has more than 160,000 members across the United States and more than 5,000 in Washington, DC.